Hedgehog Care Sheet: The One-Page Quick Reference

This is the hedgehog care sheet we'd tape inside a new owner's cabinet. One page, no padding: the numbers that keep an African pygmy hedgehog healthy, and the signs that mean stop reading and call a vet. The reasoning behind every line lives in the full care guide. This is the version you check at 11pm without scrolling.

Print this hedgehog care sheet and keep it by the cage

Bookmark this page, or use your browser's Print and then Save as PDF, and keep a copy where you actually feed and clean. A pet-sitter who can read the warning-signs section is worth more than a paragraph of reassurance. Everything below is the reference, not the explanation.

The numbers you cannot get wrong

Thing	The number
Room temperature	72 to 80°F, year-round, including when you travel
Cage floor space	8+ sq ft of usable floor (vertical levels don't count)
Wheel	12+ inches, solid surface, no wire or slats
Diet ratio	70% cat kibble · 20% insects · 10% treats
Handling	20 to 30 min daily, evenings, for the first month
Lifespan	3 to 5 years typical, 6 to 8 with excellent care
First-year cost	$700 to $1,200, then $400 to $600 a year

Diet, on one line each

• Base: high-protein adult cat kibble. 30%+ protein, named meat as the first ingredient. Not kitten food, not "hedgehog food" from the pet store.
• Insects: crickets, dubia roaches, or black soldier fly larvae, two to four times a week. Mealworms only as an occasional treat (fattening and mildly addictive).
• Treats: pea-sized fruit, vegetable, or cooked egg, once or twice a week.
• Never: avocado, grapes and raisins, onion and garlic family, citrus, chocolate, dairy, raw meat, anything wild-caught.

The routine, once setup is done

Cadence	Do this
Daily	Fresh food and water in the evening. Confirm cage reads 72 to 80°F. Spot-clean poop. Handle once they're awake.
Every 1 to 2 days	Clean the wheel. It's the biggest source of cage smell.
Weekly	Swap fleece liners. Weigh on a kitchen scale and write the number down.
Monthly	Full cage clean. Check nails. Look over skin and quills.
Yearly	One exotic-vet wellness exam, even with no symptoms.

The weekly weigh-in is the line owners skip and shouldn't. A dropping weight is often the first and only early warning of a problem you can still fix cheaply.

Call an exotic vet now if you see this

This is the part to read out loud to anyone watching your hedgehog:

• Not eating for 24 hours or more
• Body cold or floppy to the touch (a failed hibernation attempt: warm gently against your skin and call immediately)
• Wheezing, clicking, or any labored breathing
• Can't walk normally on all four feet, head tilt, or circling
• Weight loss over 10% in a month
• Discharge or blood from eyes, nose, or rear
• Green or mucus-streaked diarrhea lasting past 24 hours

If your nearest exotic vet is more than an hour away, find one and save the number now, not the night you need it.

Before you bring one home

The honest checklist. If you can't tick all of these, the kind thing is to wait or choose a different animal:

• Hedgehogs are legal where you live
• An exotic vet is within reasonable driving distance
• Your home holds 72 to 80°F year-round, including vacations
• You can absorb a surprise $500 to $1,000 vet bill
• You're fine with a nocturnal, often-aloof animal that won't greet you

That's the whole sheet. When you want the why behind any single line, the full care guide walks through each one, and the setup checklist covers the gear in the order you'll actually buy it.